This would be the correct action because the family will no doubt want to know the circumstances leading up to his death.
I feel sorry for those left behind.
However, I also sympathise with the police officers involved in such cases. They are placed in the unenviable position of having to make split-second decisions, often while travelling at high speeds under huge pressure. The chances of something going terribly wrong are high.
The police are charged with keeping our roads safe and reducing the road toll and it is their duty to stop people breaking the law.
Figures released to the Bay of Plenty Times under the Official Information Act show more than 300 drivers have fled police in the Western Bay the past five years.
The number of fleeing drivers caught fluctuated between 50 in 2012 and 74 in 2013, according to police records.
As this paper has noted before it would send a terrible message if police did not at least make an effort to catch drivers who refuse to stop. Police pursuits are fraught with danger.
High speeds environmental factors, the actions of innocent civilians and police making high-pressure decisions create a potentially explosive cocktail that means police need to stop the moment it becomes too dangerous.
If this does not happen then it is fair that actions should be criticised - and police have faced harsh criticism in the past.
Last year an Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) investigation into a high-speed pursuit on Tauranga's main road found the policeman put the public at risk by pursuing a drunk driver on the wrong side of the road.
The authority found police had reasonable grounds to try to stop the car, but the actions of the officer driving were unjustified, placing the public and police at risk.
It is not the first time Bay police have been criticised for the way pursuits have been carried out.
In 2012 Bay police were criticised following the deaths of Harley Wilson and Michael Keepa.
Keepa and Wilson were in a stolen car and evaded an alcohol checkpoint in Mount Maunganui.
Police pursued them at speeds of up to 110km/h in a 50km/h zone before abandoning the chase just before the vehicle hit a tree in Te Puke in October 2010.
An IPCA report found the Tauranga officers should have abandoned the car chase well before it ended in tragedy because of the high speeds involved.
Such cases have been the subject of debate. There have been calls for the police to restrict pursuits.
It is unlikely though that the public would support a policy under which police do not pursue criminals in cars who fail to stop.
This was the finding of a major review into police pursuits in 2010.
This review also stated "if criminals know that police will not pursue them, or have so many restrictions placed on them it renders pursuits futile then the job of the police to uphold the law not only becomes difficult but almost impossible".
There are inherent risks in police pursuits but the alternative - giving people free rein to the break the law - is far worse.
